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THE 



iciiire 0f Uit^init. 



BY AI.ONZO LEWIS. 



" The rocks, which rose perpendicularly, and to a considerable 
height, were not content to form a solid wall, to resist the en- 
croachments of the tide, and the lashing- of the waves, but ap- 
peared to have stepped out of their places, and to have advanced 
upon the beach, and into the very ,vatcrs, in all imaginable fornix 
and sizes." — Moredux. 




<?^ 



ty>LYNN: 

THOS. HERBERT AND COMPANY. 
1855. 

r.r. 






"Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year ISr^G, by 

ALONZO LEWIS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Mass 



P E I X T E D BY 

P. L. & H. S. cox, Repoktkr Office, 
No, 13 Exchauge Street, Ljnn. 



PICTURE OF NAHANT. 



In no part of the world can so pleasant and 
so delightful a watering place be found as Na- 
hant. Its bold projection, almost three miles 
into the ocean, leaving it nearly surrounded by 
water — the healthy and invigorating atmosphere 
with which it is constantly visited — its conve- 
nient isolation from the noise and heat and bus- 
tle of the adjacent cities — the numerous beaches 
and coves around its shores, interspersed and 
varied by craggy and precipitous cliffs, compris- 
ing the greatest diversity of primitive and igne- 
ous formation any where to be found within so 
small a compass, affording a most interesting 
study for the geologist — its wild and singular 
caverns and grottoes, into which the tide dashes 
and regurgitates — and the illimitable prospect 
of ocean, forest, mountain, city and rural scen- 
ery, render it an object of interest to all, and 



4 PICTURE or NAHAXT. 

especially to the curious, the scientific and the 
romantic. 

Nahant is a peninsula on the south side of 
Lynn, projecting into the ocean, between the 
cities of Salem and Boston. It consists of two 
islands, connected together by a beach half a 
mile in length, and united to the city of Lynn 
by another beach, nearly two miles in length ; 
its exact length is nine thousand three hundred 
feet. Nahant is the original Indian name of the 
place, from the word Nahanteu, signifmg two 
united, or twins — a name peculiarly appropriate. 
Great Nahant is two miles in length, and about 
half a mile in breadth, containing five hundred 
acres ; and is six and one quarter miles in cir- 
cumference. It is surrounded by steep, craggy 
cliffs, rising from twenty to sixty feet above the 
tide, w^ith a considerable depth of water below. 
The rocks jorcsent a great variety of color — 
white, green, blue, red, purple, and gray — and 
in some places very black and shining, having 
the appearance of iron. The cliffs are pierced 
by many deep fissures, caverns, and grottoes ; 
and between these are numerous coves, and 
beaches of fine, shining, silvery sand, crowned by 



PICTURE or XAHAXT. O 

ridges of various colored pebbles, interspersed 
with sea-shells. Above the cliffs, the promon- 
tory swells into mounds from sixty to ninety feet 
in height. There are many remarkable cliffs and 
caves around Nahant, which are very interesting 
to the lovers of natural curiosities. 

Nahant furnishes many and most excellent 
places for sea-bathing. The numerous beaches 
all around its shores, consisting of smooth, hard, 
clean sand, gently sloping out into deep water, 
render it perfectly safe to indulge in the invigor- 
ating luxury of surf bathing ; and the little rock* 
surrounded coves and pools, interspersed among 
the clifis, afford abundant opportunities for those 
v/ho prefer to enjoy a more quiet lavation. 

The proper time for riding on the beaches is 
at low water. They then present a smooth, hard, 
and nearly level surface, over which it is great 
pleasure to pass. The Long Beach was formerly 
much harder, having been beaten almost to 
marble hardness by the tides of centuries ; but 
the great storms of 1851 disturbed the sand, 
which is gradually sinking into its former con- 
sistency. On a cloudy day, when the beach is 
smooth and wet, the reflection of the clouds and 



6 PICTURli OP JfAHAXX. 

the images of the horses and carriages, inverted, 
maybe seen belov/, presenting a singularly beau- 
tiful and enchanting illusion. 

^ The SwalloAvs' Cave is a passage beneath a 
high cliff, on the southeastern part of ^s^ahant. 
The entrance is eight feet high and ten wide.' 
Inside it is fourteen feet wide, and nearly twenty 
feet in height. Towards the centre it becomes 
narrower, and, at the distance of seventy-two 
feet, opens into the sea. It may be entered 
about half tide, and passing through, you may 
'ascend to the height above, without returning 
through the cave. At high tide the water rushes 
through with great fury. The swallows formerly 
inhabited this cave in great numbers, and built 
their nests on the irregularities of the rocks 
above ; but the multitude of visitors has fright- 
ened them away. 

Southward from the Swallows' Cave is Pea 
Island, an irregular rock, about twenty rods 
broad. It has some soil on it, on which the sea 
pea grows. It is united to the Swallows' Cliff 
by a little isthmus, or beach of sand, thirteen 
rods long. 

Eastward from Pea Island are two long, low, 



PICTUUE OF Is'AHAXX. 7 

black ledges, Ij'ing in the water, and covered at 
high tides, called the Shag Rocks. Several ves- 
sels have been wrecked on them. 

Eastward from Swallows' Cave is Pulpit Rock, 
a vast block about thirty feet in height, and near- 
ly twenty feet square, standing boldly out in the 
tide. On the top is an opening, forming a seat ; 
but from the steepness of the rock on all sides, it 
is difficult of access. The upper portion of the 
rock has a striking resemblance to a pile of great 
books. This rock is so peculiarly unique in its 
situation and character, that if drawings were 
made of it from three sides, they would scarcely 
be supposed to represent the same object. 

The Natural Bridge is near Pulpit Rock. It 
is a portion of the cliff forming an arch across a 
deep gorge, from which you look down upon the 
rocks and tide twenty feet below. 

Passing from the Swallows' Cave along the 
rocks, near the edge of the water, to the western 
side of the same cliff, you come to Irene's Grotto, 
a tall arch, singularly grotesque and beautiful, 
leading to a large room in the rock. This is 
one of the greatest curiosities on Nahant, and 
was formerly much more so, until sacrilegious 



8 PICTUKE O'F NAHANT. 

hands broke down part of the roof above, to ob- 
tain stone for building. 

Near East Point is a great gorge, overhung by 
a precipice on either side, called the Cauldron 
Cliff; in which, especially during great storms, 
the water boils with tremendous force and fury. 
On the right of this, descending another way, is 
the Roaring Cavern ; having an aperture beneath 
the rock, through which you hear the roaring of 
Cauldron Cliff. 

On the northeastern side of Nahant, at the ex- 
tremity of Cedar Point, is Castle Rock, an im- 
mense pile, bearing a strong resemblance to the 
ruins of an old castle. The battlements and 
buttresses are strongly outlined ; and the square 
openings in the sides, especially when thrown 
into deep shadow, appear like doors, windows, 
and embrasures. Indeed the whole of Nahant 
has the appearance of a strongly fortified place. 

Northwest from Castle Rock is the Spouting 
Horn. It is a winding fissure in the lower pro- 
jecting bed of the cliff, in the form of a horn, 
passing into a deep cavern under the rock. The 
water is driven through a tunnel, formed by two 
walls of rock, about one hundred feet, and is then 



PICTURE OF XAHAXT. 



forced into the cavern, from which it is spouted, 
with great violence, in foam and spray. In a 
great easterly storm, at half flood, when the tide 
is coming in with all its power, the water is 
driven into this opening with a force that seems 
to jar the foundation of the solid rock ; and each 
wave makes a sound like subterranean thunder. 
The cliff rises abruptly forty feet above, but there 
is a good descent to the mouth of the tunnel. 

AVestward from the Spouting Horn is a large 
black ledge, called the Iron Mine, from its great 
resemblance to that mineral. It embraces a sin- 
gular cavity, called the Dashing Rock. 

At the northwestern extremity of Xahant, is 
John's Peril, a vast fissure in the cliff, forty feet 
perpendicular. It receives its name from the fol- 
lowing anecdote : — John Breed, one of the early 
inhabitants of Nahant, one day attempted to 
drive his team between a rock on the hill and 
this cliff. The passage being narrow, and finding 
his team in great peril, he hastily unfastened his 
oxen ; and the cart, falling down the precipice, 
was dashed in pieces on the rocks below. 

In the southern part of Nahant is a little lake 
of fresh water, containing about eight acres, 



10 PICTUEE OF XAHAXT. 

called Bear Pond. The .high cliff beside it is 
called Bailey's Hill. The western portion of 
Nahant is called Bass Neck. 

Directly in front of Nahant, at the distance of 
three-fourths of a mile on the east, is Egg Hock. 
It rises abruptly from the sea, eighty-six feet in 
height. Its shape is oval, being forty-five rods 
in length, and t'vclve in breadth, containing 
about three acres. Near the summit is half an 
acre of excellent soil, covered with rank grass. 
The gulls lay their egg:-i here in abundance, 
whence the rock derives its name. The approach 
to this rock is dangerous except in calm weather, 
and there is but one good landing place, which 
is on the western side. Its shape and color are 
highly picturesque. Viewed from the north, it 
has the semblance of a couchant lion, lying out 
in front of the city, to protect it from the ap- 
proach of a foreign enemy — meet emblem of the 
spirit which slumbers on our shores ! 

South of Nahant is a dangerous rock, covered 
at high tide, called Sunk Kock. On the western 
side, at the entrance of the harbor, is a cluster of 
rocks, called the Lobster Rocks. 



12 PICTURE OF NAHAKT. 

slopes to tlie harbor, and on the eastern side to 
the ocean. The ocean side is most beautiful, 
as here the tide flows out about thirty-three rods, 
leaving a smooth, polished surface of compact 
sand, so hard that the horse's hoof scarcely 
makes a print, and the Avheel passes without 
sound. It frequently retains sufficient lustre, af- 
ter the tide has left it, to give it the appearance 
of a mirror ; and on a cloudy day, the traveller 
may see the perfect image of his horse reflected 
beneath, with the clouds below, and can easily 
imagine himself to be passing, like a spirit, 
through a world of shadows — a brightly mir- 
rored emblem of his real existence I 

It is difficult — perhaps impossible — to convey 
to the mind of a reader who has never witnessed 
the prospect, an idea of the beauty and sublim- 
ity of this beach, and of the absolute magnifi- 
cence of the surrounding scenery. A floor of 
sand, two miles in length, and more than nine 
hundred feet in breadth at low tide, bounded on 
two sides by the water and the sky, and present- 
ing a surface so extensive that two millions of 
people might stand upon it, is certainly a view 
which the universe cannot parallel. This beach 



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PICTUEE OF NAHAXT. 



is 



i-s composed of moveable particles of sand, so 
small that two thousand of them would not make 
a grain as large as the head of a pin ; yet these 
moveable atoms have v\^ithstood the whole im- 
mense power of the Atlantic ocean for centuries, 
perhaps from the creation I 

The unequal refraction of the atmosphere fre- 
quently occasions peculiar and curious appear- 
ances on the water. Sometimes the sun, when 
it rises through a dense atmosphere, appears 
elongated in its vertical diameter. Presently it 
appears double, the two parts being connected 
together by a neck. At length two suns are dis- 
tinctly seen ; the refracted sun aj^pearing wholly 
above the water, before the true sun has risen. 

It was undoubtedly this effect of the mirage 
which occasioned the story of the Phantom Ship 
at New Haven, and the Flying Dutchman. On 
a pleasant Sunday afternoon, in the summer of 
1843, I saw several vessels sailing off Nahant, 
reflected in the manner represented in the accom- 
panying cut. The atmosphere was dense, yet 
transparent, and there were several strata of thin 
vapory clouds lightly suspended over the water, 
on which the vessels were brightly mirrored. 



^^ PICTTTEE OF ^'AHA^*3'. 

The refracted images were as clearly portrayed 
as the real vessels beneath ; and a drawing can 
but imperfectly represent the exceeding beauty 
of the mirage. 

In a sketch of Nahant, it would be great in- 
justice to omit an honorable notice of Frederic 
Tudor, Esq., who has expended great care, and 
an amount beyond computation, in improving 
and beautifying the place. He has opened and 
built long roads and avenues at his own expense ; 
constructed sidewalks ; set out many thousand 
of shade, ornamental, and fruit trees ; and con- 
verted a barren hill into one of the most beauti- 
ful and fertile gardens. 

A line of coaches runs almost hourly, during 
the summer season, from the central railroad 
station at Lynn; where may be found private 
carnages, with careful drivers, ready at all times 
to render access to Nahant convenient and pleas- 



I 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



The first positive knowledge we have of Xa- 
hant is furnished us by Captain John Smith, 
who made a survey of the coast, in an open boat, 
in 1614. Proceeding westward from Salem, he 
says — " The next I can remember by name are 
the Mattahunts, two pleasant isles of groves, 
gardens, and cornfields," a league in the maine. 
The isles of Mattahunts, are on the west side of 
this bay, where arc many isles and some rocks, 
that appear a great height above the water, like 
the Pieramides of Egypt.*' By the Mattahunts, 
he probably meant the Nahants, which he named 
the "FuUerton Islands.'' His delineation of them 
on the map, though very small, is very correct. 

In 1622, the Council in England granted "Na- 
haunte " to Captain Robert Gorges, who came 
over the next year and settled at Winnisimmet. 
The claim was afterward granted to John Old- 



16 PICTTJUE OfF NAHANT. 

ham, but as no possession was taken by settle- 
ment, it Vv'as, in 1620, declared to be invalid. 

At the time of the first settlement of Lynn in 
1629, the Indians had possession of Nahant. 
The Sagamore, or chief, was Poquannum, who 
was called Black Will by the first white settlers 
at Lynn. In 1630 he sold Nahant to Thomas 
Dexter, a Lynn farmer, for a suit of clothes. He 
had two children — Ahawayet, a daughter, who 
married Wenepoykin, the Lynn Sagamore — and 
Queakussen, who was called by the whites, Cap- 
tain Tom. In 1633, Poquannum v>^as killed at 
Richmond's Isle, near Portland, by some white 
men, in revenge for the death of one Walter 
B agnail, of which he seems to have been entirely 
innocent. 

In 1629, the people of Lynn and Salem used 
Nahant as a pasture for their cattle, which were 
tended there, during the- summer, by Robert 
Dixey. For many years Nahant was used as a 
sheep pasture. W^illiam Wood, who was here 
at the first settlement, says, "It is used for to 
put young cattle in, and weather Goates, and 
Swine, to secure them from the Woolves ; a few 
posts and rayles from the low water markes to 



PICTURE OF KAHAXT. 17 

the shore, keepcs out the Woolves, and keepes 
in the cattle." 

In the year 1634, on training day, Capt. Na- 
thaniel Turner, Avho commanded the trained band 
at Lynn, was directed, by Col. John Humfrey, 
to go with his company to Nahant to hunt the 
wolves, by which it was then infested. This 
was doubtless regarded as a very pleasant amuse- 
ment for training day. 

On the eleventh of January, 163o, "It was 
also voted, by the freemen of the towne, that 
these men underwritten, shall have liberty to 
plante and build at Nahant, and shall possess 
each man land for the said purpose, and proceed- 
ing in the trade of fishing ; Mr. Humfreys, Dan- 
iel How, Mr. Ballard, Joseph Redknap, Timothy 
Tomlins, Richard Vfalkcr, Henry Feakes, Thos. 
Talmage, Francis Dent.'' On the eighteenth of 
the same month, "It is ordered by the freemen 
of the towne, that all such persons as are assign- 
ed any land at Nahant, to further the trade of 
making fish, that if they doe not proceed accord- 
ingly to forward the said trade, but cither doe 
grow remiss, or else doe give it quite over, that 
then all such lotts shall be forfeited again to the 
towne, to dispose of as shall be thought fitte." 



18 PICTURE or KAHANT. 

In 1652, Wenepoykin, the Lynn Sagamore, 
mortgaged Nahant to Nicholas Davidson, of 
Charlestown, for twenty pounds sterling. 

At a town meeting of the inhabitants of Lynn, 
held February 24, 1657, "It was voted, that 
Nahant should be laid out in planting lotts, and 
every householder should have equal in the divid- 
ing of it, noe man more than another, and every 
person to clear his lott of wood in six years, and 
he or they that doe not clear their lotts of the 
wood shall pay fifty shillings for the towne'suse. 
Alsoe every householder is to have his and their 
lotts for seven years, and it is to be laid down 
for a pasture for the towne, and in the seventh, 
every one that hath improved his lott by plant- 
ing, shall then, that is in the seventh year, sow 
their lott with English corne, (wheat,) and in 
every acre of land as they improve, they shall, 
with their English corne, sow one bushel of 
English hay seed, and soe proportionable to all 
the land that is improved, a bushel of hay seed 
to one acre of land, and it is to be remembered 
that noe person is to raise any kind of building 
at all." 

On the passing of this order, Mr. Thoma-s 



PICTURE OF NAMA^T. 19 

Dexter, who claimed from the old Nahant Saga- 
more, prosecuted the town of Lynn ; but the 
court decided in favor of the defendants. 

On the thirteenth of June, 16C8, Robert Page, 
of Boston, was prosecuted, " for settinge saille 
from Nahant, in his boate, being Loadcn with 
wood, thereby Profaining the Lord's Daye."' 

In 1G73 we find Robert Coates residing at 
Xahant as a fisherman and shepherd, by permis- 
sion of the town. He removed in 1G82, after 
which there was no inhabitant on Xahant until 
1690. In that year, James Mills built a small 
cottage, about six rods southeast from Whitney's 
Hotel, where he resided twenty-six years. A 
bay near the pond, having been the favorite bath- 
ing place of his daughter Dorothy, still bears 
the name of Dorothy's cove. In 1698, James 
Mills killed five foxes on Nahant. These ani- 
mals appear to have been very numerous. Be- 
tween the years 1698 and 1722, four hundred 
and twenty-eight foxes were killed in Lynn and 
Nahant. 

In 1688, Edvs-ard Randolph, Secretary of State, 
petitioned the Governor of Massachusetts, Sir 
Edmund Andros, to grant him Nahant; reprc- 



20 PICTUHE OF KAHAXT. 

senting it as an unoccupied place, and a sort of 
waif which no one claimed. The inhabitants of 
Lynn defended their right, which was settled by 
the dejDOsition of Andros on the 19th of April, 
1689. On that memorable day the people made" 
a great patriotic American movement. They 
rose in arms, deposed Governor Andros, put 
him in prison, seized the fort, and established 
a council of protection. The Lynn com^Dany 
marched to Boston, headed by Mr. Shepard, the 
minister ! 

In 1698, the town ordered that no person 
should cut more than seven trees on Nahant, 
under a penalty of forty shillings for each tree 
exceeding that number. 

On the sixth of March, 1704, the town, " be- 
ing informed that several persons had cut down 
several trees or bushes in Nahants, whereby 
there is like to be no shade for the creatures," 
voted that no person should cut any tree or bush 
there under a penalty of ten shillings. 

In the year 1706, a new division of lands was 
made at Nahant, under which the present pro- 
prietors claim. 

In the great snow, in 1717, many deer came 



PICXriiE OF XAHANT. 21 

from the woods for food, and were killed by 
guns. Some, being chased by wolves, fled to 
Nahant, and, leaping into the sea, were drowned. 

The summer of 1749 was exceedingly hot and 
dry. The grasshoppers were so numerous at 
Nahant that the people walked together, vvith 
bushes in their hands, and drove them by thou- 
sands into the sea. 

As late as the year 1803 there were but three 
houses on Nahant. The first Avas built by Sam- 
uel Breed, where Whitney's Hotel how stands. 
The second was built by Jabez Breed, who sold 
it to Richard Hood, and it is now occupied by 
his descendant, Mr. Benjamin Hood. The third 
house was built by Jeremy Gray, uncle of the 
celebrated William Gray, Lieutenant Governor 
of Massachusetts, now occupied by Mr. Caleb 
Johnson. In 1803, these three houses were oc- 
cupied by members of the Society of Friends, 
who kept no hotels, but accommodated a few 
boarders, and occasionally made a fish chowder, 
for parties who visited Nahant from Boston and 
other places. 

In 1800, a house was built on Bass Neck, by 
Capt. Joseph Johnson, which was burned in 



23 picTimE or nahaxt. 

1803. It was afterwards rebuilt, and is now 
occupied by Wendell Phillips, Esq. 

On the twentieth of September, 1808, the 
lightning struck a flock of sheep at Nahant, and 
killed eighteen of them. On the thirtieth of 
July, 1829, the lightning struck a barn, belong- 
ing to Mr. Stephen Codman, and killed a car- 
penter named William Hogan. 

As Nahant projects several miles into the sea, 
and is embattled by steep and rough crags, it is 
very dangerous in a storm, and many vessels 
have been wrecked upon it. In 1631, a vessel 
owned by Mr. John Glover was lost here. In 
1657, a vessel owned by Mr. Thomas Wiggin, of 
Portsmouth, went ashore on Long Beach. A 
schooner was wrecked on Nahant in 1740. In 
the year 1757, two merchant ships from London, 
valued at one hundred thousand pounds, were 
wrecked on Long Beach. In 1766 an English 
brig from Hull was stranded on Pond Beach. A 
sloop went' ashore on Nahant in 1769. On the 
ninth of December, 1795, the Scottish brig Peggy 
was wrecked on Long Beach, and eleven men 
'were drowned. A schooner went on this beach 
in 1827; and in 1828 another was wrecked on 



PICTX'E-E or NAHANT. 23 

the Lobster Rocks. On the fifth of March, 1829, 
a schooner, loaded with coffee, was broken to 
pieces on the Shag Rocks, and no trace Avas 
found of any of the crew. The brig Shamrock, 
of Boston, with a cargo of sugar and molasses, 
was wrecked on Long Beach, on the seventeenth 
of December, 1836; and on the seventeenth of 
March, 1843, the schooner Thomas, of Belfast, 
was wrecked on the same beach, and five men 
were drov\'ned, four of whom were masters of 
vessels. On the fifth of August, 1847, the Water 
Witch, a yacht, owned by Phineas Drew, was 
wrecked on Canoe Beach. On the tenth of No- 
vember, 1848, the schooner Major Ringold was 
wrecked on Canoe Beach. On the twenty-eighth 
of March, 1849, the schooner James Hervey, 
Captain Smith, was wrecked on Long Beach. 
On the sixth of August, a boat containing four 
persons, was upset off Nahant, and Mark G. 
Phillips, of Swampscott, was drowned. On the 
twentieth of November, the brig Exile, Captain 
Stroud, was wrecked on Long Beach. The 
schooner Hornet, of Swampscott, went ashore on 
Long Beach in the same storm. On the twenty- 
first of February, 18-53, the schooner Eliza, 



24 piCTrRE or nahant. 

loaded with iron, went ashore on Canoe Beach. 
On the third of December, 1854, two new houses, 
helonging to the Phillips family, at Bass Neck, 
Vv'ere blovrn dovrn. 

In 1817, a singular marine animal, called the 
Sea Serpent, is said to have made its appearance 
in the waters of Gloucester harbor. In 1819, it 
is said, it was seen off Nahant, and persons have 
since testified to its reappearance. It has been 
variously represented to have been from fifty to 
seventy feet in length, as large as a barrel, and 
sometimes with its head elevated from six to ten 
feet above the water. Its existence is consid- 
ered to be well established. 

Nahant has for many years been a place 
of agreeable recreation, but it was not until 
about the year 1817 that gentlemen began to 
tliink of fixing their summer residence here. In 
that year, Hon. Thomas H. Perkins built his 
stone cottage on the hill near the S230uting Horn. 
The beautiful rustic residence of Frederick Tu- 
dor, Esq., was built in 1825; and Mr. Joseph 
G. Joy's Log Cabin was constructed in 1841. 
About thirty other cottages have been erected 
here by gentlemen from Boston and Salem, who 



PICTUEE OF NIHA-N'T. 25 

reside in them for three or four months, during 
the warm season, and then close them until an- 
other year. The Tuscan Chapel was erected in 
1832. 

On the twentieth of August, 1844, Dr. James 
Clark and four others, Avent to Egg Rock to dig 
for money. They were detained on the rock all 
night, and were probably the first white men who 
ever slept upon it. 

In 1847 subscriptions, to the amount of about 
thirteen hundred dollars, were obtained, chiefly 
from gentlemen residing at Nahant, for the pur- 
j)ose of building a road over Long Beach. In the 
same year, the first house at Little Xahant was 
built to accommodate the workmen. The town 
of Lynn afterward contributed one thousand dol- 
lars to complete the work. The subscriptions 
were obtained, and the road built, by Alonzo 
Lewis. 

A post office was established here in August, 
1847, and Welcome W. Johnson was appointed 
postmaster. 

On the seventeenth of March, 1851, a great 
rain storm commenced ; and on the sixteenth 
of April, another of far greater violence. Tliis 



26 PICTUHE OF NAHA.XT. 

was probably the greatest storm for two centu- 
ries. Seven successive tides swept over the Long 
Beach for its entire length, totally destroying 
the breakwater, and greatly damaging the road. 
The old breakwater consisted of a plank box or 
trough, filled with sand. The new breakv/ater 
was built with cedars, seaweed and sand, from a 
plan by Alonzo Lev\ds. It not only prevents the 
waves from passing over, but the tops of the 
cedars, by checking the force of the wind, stop 
the sand as it blows about, and the ridge of the 
beach has been raised several feet by that means. 
In this storm Minot's ledge lighthouse fell. 

The nevv' schoolhouse was built this year, and 
dedicated on the sixteenth of September. 

The new village church was dedicated on the 
twenty-fifth of September. 

In 1853 jSTahant was incorporated as a sepa- 
rate town, on the twenty-ninth of March. Wash- 
ington H. Johnson was chosen Town Clerk, and 
Dexter Stetson, W. H. Johnson, and Artemas 
Murdock, Selectmen. 

The Nahant Hotel was built of stone in 1820. 
The first keeper of the house was Mr. James 
Masee, who died about a vear afterwards, and 



PICTUBE or NAHAXT. 27 

was succeeded by Milton Durand, who remained 
four years. To him succeeded Mr. Hutchinson, 
Mr. Cox, and Mr. Spooncr. The house was then 
kept many years, in excellent order by Mr. Rich- 
ard Holman. To him succeeded Phineas Drew, 
who remained fourteen years. A large wing had 
been previously added. In 1853 the old house 
was purchased by a company of Lynn gentlemen, 
who immediately commenced to rebuild and en- 
large it. While the workmen were raising the 
wing, it was blown down by a sudden gale. 
The new house was completed and opened on 
the tenth of June, 1854, by Messrs. Paran Ste- 
vens and his son, James E. Stevens, 

The "Nahant House," which includes the old 
stone building, is two hundred and eighty-four 
feet in length, eighty feet in breadth, and five sto- 
ries in height, and furnishes liberal accommoda- 
tions for six hundred persons. It is fitted with 
all modern hotel improvements, provided with 
bathing apartments for hot and cold, salt and 
fresh water baths, lighted with gas, warmed by 
steam, and is so located that every window com- 
mands an unobstructed ocean view. This im- 
mense establishment is furnished throughout in 



28 PICTUEE OF NAHAXT. 

a style which will compare favorably with the 
best first class houses in the Atlantic cities, and 
is open for the entartainment of guests from the 
middle of June till October ; during which sea- 
son, a nev/ steamboat — the Nelly Baker, Captain 
Rouell — makes four trips a day between Nahant 
and Boston ; and coaches, connecting at Lynn 
with cars for Boston or the east, leave the house 
nearly every hour. Telegraph communication is 
also established with all parts of the universe. 
The total investment in this enterprise, including 
stable accommodations for two hundred horses, 
is over 8200,000. A band of music is employed 
to give concerts every afternoon and evening on 
the hotel grounds. BoAvling saloons, a shooting 
gallery, and a beautiful billiard hall, built of 
stone, in the model of a Grecian temple, afford 
ample indoor amusements ; while yachts and fish- 
ing boats, with experienced masters, are provided 
for fishing parties and pleasure excursions. Car- 
riages and saddle horses, for riding on the beach- 
es, together with facilities for surf bathing, an- 
gling from the rocks, and studying the truly 
wonderful formations which appear among the 
cliifs, ofter a variety of romantic attractions, of 



$'JtA':i^L, '.J tin 




PICTURE OF XAHANT. 29 

which the visitor never can become weary, and 
must ever remember with delight. 

The Yili-^g° Hotel was built by Mr. William 
Breed, and in 1817 purchased by Mr. Jesse Rice, 
Avho kept it twenty-nine years, v/hen it was con- 
veyed to Mr. Albert Whitney, the present gen- 
tlemanly and accommodating keeper. Two pub- 
lic houses, on the temperance principle, are kept 
by Jesse Rice, Esq., and Mr. Edmund B. John- 
son, and there are many private boarding houses, 
for the accommodation of those who wish greater 
seclusion. 

From Nahant you have a fine vlev\- of the city 
of Boston, with its elevated dome and its slender 
spires ; the numerous green islands scattered 
through the harbor ; Bunker Hill, with its ele- 
vated monument of granite ; the towns of Sau- 
gus, Lynn and Marblchead, with their neat 
white houses and hills of porphyry ; Baker's Is- 
land with its twin light houses ; and the vast 
expanse of ocean, from wliich you inhale the 
healthy sea-breeze. 

At Nahant, in the summer season, may be 
found statesmen, poets, philosophers, and au- 
thors 3 gentlemen of wealth and leisure, and 



30 PICTUKE or XAHANT. 

ladies of taste and refinement ; witli occasionally 
noblemen, and persons of distinction from Eu- 
rope ; who assemble here to exchange civilities, 
form agreeable acquaintances and permanent 
friendships; and to enjoy one of the finest pieces 
of natural scenery which the universe affords. 

The temperature of Nahant, being moderated 
by sea-breezes, so as to be cooler in summer and 
milder in winter, than the main land, is regarded 
as being highly conducive to health. It is de- 
lightful in summer to ramble round this roman- 
tic peninsula, and to examine at leisure its in- 
teresting curiosities — to hear the waves rippling 
the colored pebbles of the beaches, and see them 
gliding over the projecting ledges in fanciful cas- 
cades — to behold the plovers and sand-pipers 
running along the beaches, the seal slumbering 
upon the outer rocks, the white gulls soaring 
overhead, the porpoises pursuing their rude gam- 
bols along the shore, and the curlew, the loon, 
the black duck, and the coot — the brant, with 
his drappled neck, and the oldwife, with her 
strange, wild, vocal melody, swimming graceful- 
ly in the coves, and rising and sinking Avith the 
swell of the tide. The moonlight evenings here 



riClURE OF KAHANT. 31 

are exceedingly lovely ; and the phosphoric ra- 
diance of the billows, on favorable nights, mak- 
ing the waters look like a sea of fire, exhibits a 
scene of wonderful beauty. 

But, however delightful Xahant may appear 
in summer, it is surpassed by the grandeur and 
sublimity of a winter storm. When the strong 
east wind has swept over the Atlantic for seve- 
ral days, and the billows, wrought up to fury, 
are foaming along like living mountains — break- 
ing upon the precipitous cliffs, — dashing into the 
rough gorges, — thundering in the subterranean 
caverns of rocks, and throwing the white foam 
and spray, like vast columns of smoke, hundreds 
of feet in the air, above the tallest cliffs, — an ap- 
pearance is presented which the wildest imagin- 
ation cannot surpass. Then the ocean — checked 
in its headlong career by a simple bar of sand — 
as if mad with its detention, roars like protracted 
thunder ; and the wild sea-birds, borne along by 
the furious waters, are dashed to death against 
the cliffs ! Standing at such an hour upon the 
rocks, I have seen the waves bend bars of iron, 
an inch in diameter, double — float rocks of gra- 
nite, sixteen feet in length, as if they were tim- 



32 PICTURE OF NAHAXT. 

bers of wood, — and the wind, seizing the white 
gull in its irresistible embrace, bear her, shriek- 
ing, many miles into the Lynn woods ! In sum- 
mer, a day at Nahant is delightful — but a storm 
in winter is glorious ! 



Naliant is lovely ! away we go 
O'er the polished beach when the tide is low } 
And we mark the gleam of our horse's feet, 
Deep mirrored, as in a crystal street I 

We flit along^ o'er the shining sand, 
Far out in the tide, away from land ; 
And we seem in the middle air to go, 
With the sky above, and the sky below ! 

The white gull floats in the bright blue air, 
Her scream is loud as we pass her there ; 
And the small birds run, with motion fleet, 
On the line where the sand and billows meet. 

The thin Avave is striped with the long sea sedge, 
The star-fish comes to the Avater's edge ; 
And the green sea-plants and pearly shells 
Float up to our feet Avhen the billow swells. 



3477^61 
i;K>t-19 




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# (^ 

BY ALONZO I_,E'WIS. 



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k 

i '' The rocks, which rose nerpciidicnhtrly, and to a considenihlc j 

'™ height, were not content to form a solid wall, to resist the en- ^ 

croachments of the tide, and the hi(-hing of the waves, hut ap ^' 

peared to have stepped out of their places, and to have advanced u 

upon the heacli, and into the very wateri*, in uU imaginable fornis ^ 

^ and sizes." — MouEniN. 

^ L Y X N : ^ 

THOS. HERBERT AND COMPANY. ^ 

1855. ^ 



T. HERBERT & CO., 

) MrnKmUMM & STJvTMIItS, 

L Blank Book Manufacturers, 



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AXD DEALEKS IN 



^ American, French & English Paper Hangings, 
i FANCY GOODS, ETC., 

^ opfosmtk; (n;\'i:Mi vh ukvot, r.v\\. 




L SAGAMORE COTTAGE, BEACH STREET, LYNN. 

^ OI-\riIj E! 3Xr Or I IVriES :E3 3Ft. 







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